“So much?” said Lucy, putting her hand upon the side of the coop, so as to mark off a small portion of it.
“O, I don’t mean,” said Royal, “to divide it. We will own it all together, in partnership; only you shall have a small share, just in proportion to your chickens.”
Lucy did not understand this very well, but she thought more about the chickens than about the coop; and she began to look at them, one by one, carefully, to consider which she should have for hers. She chose two, besides the black one; and she said that she meant to get Miss Anne to name them for her.
Royal took a great deal of pleasure, after this, every time that he came out to see his chickens, in observing how much interest Lucy took, every day, in coming to see her chickens, and how much enjoyment it afforded her to be admitted thus to a share in the property.
CONVERSATION XI.
GETTING LOST.
One afternoon, a short time after dinner, Lucy was sitting upon a seat under a trellis, near the door which led towards the garden, when her mother came out.
“Lucy,” said she, “I have got some rather bad news for you.”